Case Explained:This article breaks down the legal background, charges, and implications of Case Explained: Maine crime rate falls for fourth straight year, new data shows – Legal Perspective
Crime in Maine was down for the fourth year in a row in 2024, according to the latest data released by the Office of Public Safety on Jan. 6.
The report, which compiled data submitted by all but two of Maine’s 126 municipal, county and state law enforcement agencies, found 42,559 total crimes were committed in 2024, with an overall rate of 28.83 crimes per 1,000 people.
This is down from an overall rate of 29.77 the year prior, and 32.56 in 2021 — the year the agency switched to publishing what is known as “incident-based reporting” data. Due to the difference in definitions and categories, comparing rates with prior years is often not “apples to apples,” the report notes.
Almost 60% of the crimes reported in 2024 were crimes against property, like theft, and less than half of that, 12,586, were crimes committed against people. Slightly more than 4,700 reported crimes were considered crimes against society, such as drug violations, gambling and prostitution.
Violent crimes such as murders, rapes, aggravated assaults and robberies have generally been low in Maine, but followed the overall trend, declining steadily from 1,432 in 2021 to 1,374 in the latest report.
The full 2024 report can be viewed here.
This story was first published by Maine Morning Star and is republished here under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.